


Halloween Spirit

by AdventureAddict



Series: You've Become a Meme [2]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fluff, Gen, Halloween, Humor, Light-Hearted, Modern Era, Modern!Ed, Nerdiness, One Shot, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26960335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdventureAddict/pseuds/AdventureAddict
Summary: Ed's favorite holiday is coming up, and he's determined to share the joy. Al, however, doesn't understand the appeal of grown people wearing costumes, or why anyone would ENJOY creepy as an aesthetic. That's not enough to deter Ed, though. Ed will never be deterred when it comes to Halloween.
Relationships: Alphonse Elric & Edward Elric
Series: You've Become a Meme [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967398
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	Halloween Spirit

**Author's Note:**

> This story totally stands on its own, you don't need to read the other one in the "series," they're all just standalone one shots. The only thing I may have forgotten to cover in this is that at some point, there was some time travel blip that separated the brothers, and Ed ended up in the modern world on his own for a while. Al eventually caught up, but Al is still used to their time and world, while Ed is totally adjusted by now. Alright, that's enough, I'll let you read now. 

"Oh, you can't be serious," Al said when Ed came out from his room with a triumphant smirk. "Brother, you're old enough to drink, why would you still wear that thing?" 

Ed frowned and looked down at the red coat. "A classic never dies, Al!" 

"Well, it should have," Al said with a snort and a roll of his eyes. "I'm surprised that thing still even fits you."

Ed coughed and jammed his hands in his pockets. "It didn't still fit me. I had to make a completely new one." 

Al just stared at Ed with pinched eyebrows. "So... You went to the effort of remaking a coat you already owned just because... What, you're too stubborn to let this die or something?"

Ed let out a heavy sigh and looked at the ceiling. "No, Al, we've been through this. This world has a whole holiday where you dress up in some sort of costume, and I _happen to be a character in a story here_. I mean, how many times does a man get the opportunity to wear a costume of himself? I can't just let this opportunity pass by without taking advantage of it!" 

"Yeah, but..." Al raised an eyebrow at Ed. "I thought you said the whole point of costumes was for _children_ to go around and get candy from strangers or something."

"Well, yeah, that." Ed waved his hands. "But adults wear costumes too." 

"And... do _what_? Go around and get sugary candy to rot out their teeth?" 

"Unfortunately, no," Ed said with a grin and sigh. "Mostly they just get drunk and try to get laid because they're all into roleplay." 

Al stared at Ed with wide eyes, looking over Ed's costume. " _Brother!_ First of all, you are dressed as your _twelve-year-old self-"_

"And killing it," Ed interrupted with a smirk. "Twelve-year-old me wishes he looked this good. Or... Wished? Actually, I didn't really want to look like an old fart when I was twelve, but now that I'm here-" 

"And second!" Al interrupted, holding up both his hands with an aggravated sigh. "You can't just go around trying to woo some poor girl you're not going to marry!" 

Ed snorted at Al. "God, you sound old. Besides, I wasn't planning to 'woo' anyone. Even though it would admittedly be really easy looking like this."

"I never thought I would have to say this," Al said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "But you know who you sound like? Mustang. You sound like Mustang right now." 

"Nah, he'd be worse," Ed said with a snort. "Actually, he would probably love Halloween. I told you, I'm not planning to do anything with anyone of any gender. I've just learned how to have a healthy sense of self-love. Or confidence. Or... at least how to fake it till I make it." 

"Then _why_ are you wearing a costume?" 

Ed shrugged. "Because I can. Because it's what you do on Halloween. Which is also why we're going to watch a bunch of creepy movies." 

"Oh, please, no," Al groaned. "Isn't it enough that you already tortured me with _Hocus Pocus_?" 

"Hey, I said I was sorry about that! I didn't think it was even that scary! I didn't think a human cursed into being a cat and having his curse lifted would bother you that much!" 

"You showed me a movie where a cat _died_ , Brother! I don't trust you anymore!" 

"Trust me!" Ed said, holding his hands up. "No adorable critters die in _Nightmare Before Christmas_! And this way I can get a head start on explaining Christmas to you! And it's not that creepy! Definitely not scary!" 

Al narrowed his eyes at Ed. "Promise? No animals die in this one?"

"Ye- Wait." Ed paused with a frown. "Does it count if the animal died _before_ the movie starts?" 

"Brother!"

"No, no! It's just there's a ghost dog, and-"

"You're the worst!" 

Somehow, even though Al wasn't even sure how it happened, Ed managed to convince him into giving the movie a try anyway. Admittedly, it wasn't that difficult to talk him into movies anyway. They hadn't been anywhere near as easily accessible back home, let alone in color and with surround sound. Plus animated movies were absolutely enchanting to Al. It was like watching the picture books of his childhood come to life.

But even with the love Al had for animated movies, even with the fresh buttered popcorn, Al was still shaking his head as soon as the first song of the movie had ended. When Al shot him a glare, Ed sighed, grabbed the remote, and paused the movie. 

"What?" 

"It's way too scary," Al said with a pout. 

"Too scary! Nothing has even happened! It's a movie for kids!" 

"But it looks so creepy," Al said, scrunching his face up as he grabbed a handful of popcorn. "Isn't there anything we could watch that's... I don't know... prettier?" 

Ed stared at Al. "You want a creepy Halloween movie that's... pretty." 

"Yeah!" Al grinned. 

Ed opened his mouth to argue, to tell Al just how impossible the idea was, when a sudden idea struck him. "Actually, I know exactly the movie for you. Coco it is." 

"Is it called Coco because it's about chocolate and the holiday is all about candy or something?" 

Ed chuckled and shook his head. "You know, you're just going to have to find out."

As it turned out, Al could be very into movies about topics he would normally be squeamish over, such as skeletons, as long as it was presented with a bright, colorful background and lots of fun music. Ed almost regretted he hadn't come up with the idea sooner. Maybe then he wouldn't have had to put up with so many years of Al whining about how "tacky" Ed's aesthetic was. 

Al also had a lot of questions about the day of the dead, which Ed, of course, didn't have very good answers for, having only ever celebrated Halloween himself. 

"But why exactly is it that this time of year is important and not some other part of the year?" 

"I don't know," Ed said with a shrug and he leaned back against the sofa. "I guess there's several different holidays and practices that put importance on this time of year. I didn't really pay much attention to it all, really, but I guess there's this whole concept that the connection between this world and some sort of spirit world gets weak right at the end of October or so. Actually, that's why the whole wearing costumes thing started in the first place." 

The blood drained from Al's face. "What."

"Yeah." Ed chuckled. "I guess people used to believe that a bunch of demons would come through the veil and try to possess people. So they would wear a costume to throw the demons off, make it so they couldn't get possessed."

 _"What?!"_ Al jumped to his feet. "You told me it was just for kids getting candy and skeevy adults!" 

"Well, yeah, _now_ ," Ed said with a shrug. "But it started as a way- Where are you going?" 

"To make some sort of costume!" Al screeched, running upstairs. Ed snorted. 

"You know it's not real, right?"

"I'm not taking chances with someone trying to take over _my_ body!" 

Ed snorted and rolled his eyes before flicking off the television that was still playing the credits for Coco. At least Al was finally getting into the Halloween spirit. Ed figured he would probably wait to try and figure out how to explain why everyone was complicit with the idea of someone breaking into their homes in a couple months. 

**Author's Note:**

> So I actually decided to write a sort of followup in the same world/setup as the first part I did to this? I'm honestly kind of surprised, since I wasn't really planning on doing much with it, it was just a random setup I did in order to have Al confused and Ed very... modern. But that dynamic is also kind of just too fun to resist, so I may just keep coming back to it. No idea of a full story or if I'll figure out a full story for it at some point, but we'll all just have fun in the meantime. 


End file.
